cvs repository unusable

[Michael Leonard]

Hi,

I work with a group that has used Review Board for years.  We started with a pserver cvs repository named Nitro that worked up through 2017.  We switched to a git repository named Nitro-GIT about the end of 2017 and the cvs repository was no longer used.  Still whenever we went to start a new review request the cvs repository would show up in the left-hand margin.  However, right around the end of 2018 the following error message started to show up in the review board log just as a new review request was being started:

2018-12-24 12:08:15,253 - ERROR -  - root - Error loading SCMTool for repository "Nitro" (ID 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/sierra/sbs6/reviewboard/apps/reviewboard/htdocs/reviewboard/reviews/views.py", line 280, in new_review_request
    scmtool = repo.get_scmtool()
  File "/sierra/sbs6/reviewboard/apps/reviewboard/htdocs/reviewboard/scmtools/models.py", line 231, in get_scmtool
    return cls(self)
  File "/sierra/sbs6/reviewboard/apps/reviewboard/htdocs/reviewboard/scmtools/cvs.py", line 65, in __init__
    self.client = CVSClient(self.cvsroot, self.repopath, local_site_name)
  File "/sierra/sbs6/reviewboard/apps/reviewboard/htdocs/reviewboard/scmtools/cvs.py", line 433, in __init__
    self.currentdir = os.getcwd()
OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

The result would be that "Nitro" would (sometimes I think) not show up in the left-hand margin as a repository that could be chosen from.  This was not a problem at the time because everyone had switched to Nitro-GIT.  I doubt anyone even noticed that Nitro was missing considering that I never heard anyone complain.

This behavior continues to this day, but all of a sudden it's a problem that I really want to fix.  The reason is that we have started to work on a new CVS repository, configured similarly wrt Nitro, that is also failing to work with Review Board.  It often cannot be seen in the left-hand margin when trying to create a new review request.  Diffs cannot be uploaded.  Even adding descriptions, etc., is problematic.  And the error at line 433 of cvs.py appears continually in the review board log file. 

I have limited administrative privileges, but enough that I have access to the Admin UI.  So far though I can't divine what's wrong with any of the repository configuration, the review board server, or the cvs servers.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We're using version 2.5.13.1.

Thanks,

--Mike

[Christian Hammond]

Hi Mike,

That error is pointing to our CVS module trying to get the current directory and failing. Looking at the code on there, it seems we're fetching the current directory so we can temporarily change it later, and then we restore it. That code is old and isn't really ideal... If the `cvs` command we run fails, it's possible we don't restore the directory. It does look like we should, though, unless you're seeing any indications of other errors in the logs from cvs.py.

I haven't seen this come up before, so I don't know what's going on for sure, but we'll have to fix this properly. Review Board 2.5.x is no longer supported, though, without a support contract. We can get the fix into a 3.x release, but if you want to stay on 2.5.x and get a build for it, we'd need to talk about support.

I'd monitor your RAM availability, swap, and storage, to make sure there isn't some sporadic issue with checking out a file to /tmp. It's possible that if that fails, the code could get into this broken state. Still shouldn't happen, but it's the only thing I can think of.

Christian

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